


Wash it All Away

by Silverkleptofox



Category: Akatsuki no Yona
Genre: Gen, self-indulgent h/c angst, spoilers for 100+, tag to chapter 100
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-02-22
Updated: 2016-02-22
Packaged: 2018-05-22 13:55:13
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,603
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6081873
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Silverkleptofox/pseuds/Silverkleptofox
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Tag to chapter 100. Missing scene- what happened after the battle and before the next day.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Wash it All Away

**Author's Note:**

> Honestly this is self-indulgent h/c angst because there's not enough of it to satisfy my yawning appetite, and this scene has been stuck in my head all day. Originally I had forgotten that chapter 101 existed, but this still works as a tag to 100 if you assume that 101 took place the next day.

"Miss, are you alright?" He asked as he turned to her, amulet in hand, only to be met with a face full of red hair and trembling arms around his neck. Zeno was knocked back by the force of Yona's exuberant relief, but luckily Kija and Shin-ah were there to catch him.

"Hey, hey.... You're all hurt..." Zeno said quietly, his eyes wide in surprise at the sudden display of affection from his comrades. Yona and Yun were bawling their eyes out as they embraced him. Those poor children, having to watch him die over and over.

"It's okay, in alive." He reassured them as Ao snuggled into his hair.

Even Jaeha and Hak came and lenses their support in their own ways, their presence enough.

Zeno sighed with relief. Everyone was okay, he had been able to protect them all. They were hurt, and sick, but they were alive. He was exhausted and covered in blood but they were safe. 

"You're all adorable." He did with a smile. Yona sniffled and buried her nose into his hair. Hiryuu had always been the first to cry when he got hurt. He hadn't fought like that in over twenty years, and he felt it. Using Ouryuu's power was the only thing that ever made him truly exhausted anymore. Zeno sighed deeply as he closed his eyes and leaned back into Shin-ah and Kija's strong arms. 

"Zeno... ZENO!" Kija shouted. Yona looked up from her crying in panic, and saw Zeno's unconscious face. Yun quickly checked him over.

"He's still breathing." Yun said quickly. "He's probably just exhausted from what just happened. Let him rest for now." The rest of the group nodded but neither Shin-ah nor Kija made a move to get up from where Zeno was lying on their laps. 

"Let's get back to camp and get cleaned up." Hak said, helping Yona stand.

Yun dusted his knees . "And I'll have to treat everyone's wounds again." He said defeatedly. "And launder all the clothes..."  
\------

Hak was the least injured of the men, so he ended up carrying Zeno back to camp. He was covered in blood, in varying stages of drying, so they laid a rag over Yona's lap and let him lie there while the others were treated for their wounds and cleaned up. No one wanted to get Yun's hard work washing the bedclothes to go to waste, after all. 

"Zeno is still asleep..." Shin-ah said quietly after everyone else was patched and changed. Indeed, Zeno was as still as a stone save for his breathing, lying in Yona's lap. 

Shin-ah tilted his head."His scales are gone." It was true, the hard golden snakes that had finally appeared to protect him had faded while everyone else was getting bandaged. 

"We should get him cleaned up and into the tent." Jaeha mused. Shin-ah nodded and went to the fire where water had been boiled to treat all of their wounds. Jaeha turned to the princess. "We'll take care of this Yona dear, please get some rest." He smiled sweetly. He wanted to preserve as much of Zeno's dignity as he could. Yona nodded and stepped away as Kija lifted Zeno upright. 

"Well let's get this ruined cloak off first." Yun said. Kija draped Zeno's chest over his arm as Jaeha and Yun carefully peeled the garment off. It was thick and crusted with blood, and stuck to the undershirt where it had been slashed. Next came the undershirt- Jaeha untied the sash to remove what remained of Zeno's robe. It stuck to his skin, soaked through from his wounds. 

Kija and Yun gasped at what they saw. There was blood everywhere, in varying degrees of drying. At the center of each wound was a perfectly clean stripe of skin where the wound had closed.  
Kija gulped and took a steadying breath. "Zeno did all of this for us. To protect us. The amount of pain he must have been in... We should not forget this sacrifice. Let us honor our brother by respectfully caring for him." 

Jaeha snorted softly at Kija's lofty and formal tone, but didn't say anything against his meaning. Shin-ah walked up with a bowl of warm water and some spare cloths. 

"Let's start at the top." Yun said quietly as he soaked a rag and squeezed it over Zeno's left shoulder, where he had been stabbed and cut through. As the blood washed away in small pink rivers, Yun remembered how he had felt when he thought Zeno had died. Just as the wound had healed, the water washed away the blood to reveal soft, unbroken skin. 

Kija took his rag to Zeno's back, the first wound he had received. Zeno had been there to protect the princess when the four of them were lost in battle. If it hadn't been for Zeno, the princess and Yun would surely be dead. He had charged the mad soldiers on horseback without a weapon and had been cut down. It must have hurt horribly, but he charged in without fear. 

Shin-ah carefully worked at the blood covering Zeno's arms next. He worked in silence, Ao tucked into his mane- he didn't want her to see. Zeno had been powerless, just as he so often was. Paralyzed on the battlefield, Shin-ah had been unable to help as Zeno's arms were sliced off one then the other. Yet even with no arms, Zeno had still killed two men. They had all underestimated the yellow dragon, but when he picked up Yona's sword, he was fearless and efficient in doling out death to those who would harm her, no matter the consequences to himself. Shin-ah had been shocked by what he had seen. He could see the pain in Zeno's eyes, the stark contrast of the red blood against his pale skin in frightening detail that only the Seiryuu eyes could give. He was glad to be erasing that blood now. 

"Lean him back now." Yun said quietly once Zeno's back and arms were once again pale and clean and free of blood. Kija shifted his weight onto his dragon arm and held Zeno's shoulders off the ground, his head still tilting forward. 

His chest was still covered in blood, the gash through his shoulder and the multiple stabs to his heart and through his chest had bled profusely. Jaeha and Shin-ah each took up a cloth and worked carefully to remove the blood as gently as they could. Zeno still slept soundly, not reacting to the warm wet cloths that wiped away the evidence of what he had done for them, but they didn't want to take any chances. He deserved this rest. As worrying as it was to the rest of them to see his normally-smiling face unconscious and spattered with blood, it was nowhere near as traumatic as what they had seen only hours ago. No one was quite sure what to think of Zeno anymore. They had so many questions for he who they once considered to be nothing more than a child. 

Shin-ah reached up to wipe the blood from Zeno's face where he had been cut across the cheek with a sword. He couldn't wipe Zeno's terrifying face from his brain, but hopefully it would help. As Shin-ah carefully tilted back Zeno's lolling head, he gasped softly. 

"We forgot..." He whispered as he pointed to Zeno's neck.  
Indeed they had missed the most jarring round of all, hidden by Zeno's unruly mane of hair. His neck was covered in a ring of blood from where his head had been separated from his body. That image round surely haunt their nightmares in the nights to come. Kija muffled a cry and quickly set to work erasing the marks of what had happened. 

Yun went to get a clean under-robe from Kija's pack, as he was the only one who had a spare, while Shin-ah gently dried Zeno off with a clean cloth. Kija still held his torso upright, out of the dirt, out of a sense of reverence. Yun draped the ribs over Zeno's shoulders and Jaeha helped pull his arms through. Once it was tied closed, Shin-ah carefully removed Zeno's trousers to be laundered. Luckily the boy had sustained no injuries that needed to be cleaned on his legs, only the dirt from the battlefield had to be washed from his clothes. 

Now cleaned and dressed and still deeply unconscious, Zeno was carried by Kija into the tent where Yona was waiting and laid him on a sleeping mat. 

Jaeha stepped in and pulled how comb out of his pack. He sat cross-legged by Zeno's head and set to working out the knots and bits of dried blood and mud that matted the yellow dragon's hair. His headscarf had been lost somewhere on the battlefield, they would have to find it or acquire a new one in the next town. Zeno would also need to have his cloak mended. But that was a worry for another day. For now, they would rest, and be thankful that they had lived to see today, with Zeno's help. 

Zeno had died six times over that day, once for each of them. He had saved their lives with his, and while they were worried and shocked and scared, they were all immensely grateful as well. The least they could do was not let him lay in filth and blood as he slept. The happy hungry bunch took care of their own, even if all that meant was a warm rag and a clean robe. 

Anything else could wait until tomorrow.


End file.
